life, love & laughter

Month: September 2015

Football season is here and we all know what that means right! It’s time for a tailgate party!

A tailgate party is usually at the stadium in the parking lot with your good friends and some great food! Yet, lets just say your favorite team is not playing where you live? Go Chiefs! So when that’s the case my “Tailgate” party will be at home!

We like to host a few football parties during the football season when our favorite teams are playing. Of course being that my husband, JJ Birden, played in the NFL we are partial to the teams he played with. For any of you that might now already know he was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1988, from there he went to the Dallas Cowboys briefly, Kansas City Chiefs for 5 years and retired after playing 2 years with the Atlanta Falcons in 1997. Those were some exciting years watching him play.

Every year there is an NFL draft and then of course the NFL Fantasy League draft. How about a tailgate party draft? Man Crates asked me to draft our squad of essentials for a NFL tailgate party. They’re a new company that specializes in gifts for men; they have a lot of different themed crates you can send to your man and watch him open with a crowbar! I love this idea, so I thought it would be fun to share some of my “Tailgate” party ideas with you for the ultimate parking lot party! I am sure you will be able to use some of these ideas at your home cook out too! 😉

Man Crates gave me this great graphic to use for my draft. I am going to use the items from it to draft my tailgate party. My goal is to keep it under $25 using the graphics prices. Let’s do this! (my line up is below graphic)

My tailgate line up:

Hot dogs/Burgers – these are definitely a must, when I think of football food this is what first comes to mind. It is also an easy food choice for that portable grill at the stadium.

OPTION PLAY: Chips & Guacamole: We love our guacamole! So our tailgate party is not complete without my guac & chips to munch on! I grew up on my Mom’s homemade guacamole and now my siblings and I have our own tweaked versions of Mom’s original recipe that our families love.

Drinks: I have to admit we are not really beer drinkers in this house, so I would say my substitution for beer would be water & Arizona iced tea. It is hot in Arizona so you must have water or some kind of liquid that keeps you going in the hot sun.

Music: Music is always a must for our tailgate party. The music keeps the party lively and gets you pumped up for the game.

Football: We have to have a football, whats a tailgate party without that! My husband and our children like to throw the football around, it’s a good way to warm up for the real game.

NFL Barware Man Crate: I would choose this Man Crate because although we are not drinking beer, those team glasses are awesome for any type of beverage and there are some great snacks in the Man Crate to munch on with my guacamole & chips, while we wait for those hot dogs and burgers to finish grilling.

That’s my lineup!

I would love to hear what you like to have at your tailgate party. Leave me your ideas in the comments below.

“Football is like life – it requires perseverance, self-denial, hard work, sacrifice, dedication and respect for authority.”
~ Vince Lombardi